UAE Indian expats see rupee drop - right in time to send money in June

Dubai: The Indian rupee has dropped against the dirham/dollar – and just in time for NRIs in the UAE and the Gulf planning to send their next funds home.

This morning, the INR has slipped to 23.27 against a dirham after spending most of the last 10 days at 23/23.1 levels. And just before that, the rupee had even firmed up to 22.89 against the UAE currency.

“The INR drop to 23.30 levels was widely expected this week, with the dollar inching up since Monday and since Wednesday evening going up further,” said Neelesh Gopalan, Treasuy Manager at a Dubai fintech. “Now, the dollar looks good for a further firming up, which could push the INR back to 23.40 against the dirham.”

Can Indian expats in the UAE expect further drops in the first few days of June, when remittance flows typically are at their highest?

There is still quite a bit more the INR could conceivably drop to – it was in February last that the rupee dropped to its life-time low of 23.92 against AED.

But since that point, the INR had been on a firming up trend. This was in reaction to the dollar getting blows from the markets on President Trump’s decision to impose sweeping import tariffs. (Since then, most of these have been delayed, but the worries about whether the US economy is getting into a recession or stagflation has not subsided.)